Kusum Choppra

LAST RITES: IMPORTANCE OF CLOSURE Missed my date last week, jolted by the feistiest slipping away after years of 5 sisters alive and kicking; at 75, she left behind one ambition unfulfilled: become Pune’s oldest lady paraglider. Dazed through last rites observing a shrunken corpse, family and rituals led to a mental rifling and Google Baba on death. Our ancient Vedas turned out to be lyrical hymns to Man’s relationship with Nature, plus ways and means of dealing with it. Last rites for deceased humans later evolved into Brahminical platitudes and money-making practices, but the essence has   survived. The soul/Atman is immortal. It is released at the Antyeshti rituals that return the body to the five elements, air, water, fire, earth and space…denoted in the Rigveda, section 10.16: “Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered,
O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.
When...